China censors message from tennis champion revealing sex scandal

Published on : 04/11/2021 – 12:25

New censorship case in China. Beijing blocked, Thursday, November 4, all references to a message attributed to tennis champion Peng Shuai, who accused on social networks a former top Communist leader of having forced her into a sexual relationship, before making it. his teacher.

The explosive accusation was briefly posted on Tuesday on the official Weibo account of the 35-year-old Chinese player, who won the Roland Garros doubles tournament in 2014.

In a long text, Peng Shuai claims to have had, three years ago, forced sex with former Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli, who was from 2013 to 2018 one of the most powerful politicians in China .

Over 100,000 views

While censorship quickly wiped the message off the Chinese internet, screenshots spread like wildfire.

AFP was unable to determine if the message was written by Peng Shuai and his entourage declined to comment. Zhang Gaoli, for his part, has not reacted publicly.

According to Weibo data, a post on the player’s official account on Tuesday has been viewed more than 100,000 times but the content is not specified.

The embarrassing revelations come days before an important Chinese Communist Party (CCP) conclave in Beijing with the country’s top leaders.

As of Thursday, searches for both Peng Shuai and Zhang Gaoli were still blocked on Weibo and the Baidu search engine. The player’s official account was still active, but searches with her name did not return any results on the platform.

China has seen a very sanitized version of the #MeToo movement since 2018, with accusations of sexual harassment targeting stars of the song or the small screen, but never so far politicians.

Zhang Gaoli, around 75, was until early 2018 a permanent member of the CCP’s political bureau and as such one of the seven most powerful men in China. He is considered close to the Prime Minister, Li Keqiang.

“I was very scared”

In his message, Peng Shuai said that Zhang Gaoli forced him to have sex in his bedroom after playing tennis, seven years after having already slept with him.

“I was very scared. That afternoon I initially refused. I kept crying,” she wrote. “In the grip of fear and confusion (…) I gave in and we had sex.”

She adds that Zhang Gaoli’s wife knew about it and “was on guard outside.”

Peng Shuai specifies that she then became the mistress of the ex-leader, until an argument last week. She adds that she has no evidence to support her claims.

“You were always afraid that I would hide a tape recorder,” she wrote, addressing Zhang Gaoli. “You will certainly deny it or else you will go so far as to attack me.”

From the United States, Chinese feminist activist Lu Pin said the tenniswoman’s accusations were all out of a #MeToo affair.

“Peng Shuai is an extraordinary Chinese who fought on her own to achieve world-class results and yet she had to face this kind of thing, which is really distressing,” Lu Pin commented for the AFP.

Former world number one in doubles, Peng Shuai is currently ranked 189^e by the WTA.

In 2018, she received a six-month suspension and a $ 10,000 fine for trying to force her women’s doubles partner to withdraw from Wimbledon the previous year.

With AFP